ShowBiz Feature
All of us who had the opportunity to attend any of the five World Cup Finals that have been held in Las Vegas can thank John Quirk.
should hold a World Cup Finals. When they did say that they would go ahead with it I called my friend Max Ammann, the Director/originator/founder of the World Cup, to see what he thought and he went with the idea right away.” John and Max put together the best in the equestrian
and entertainment world working to marry the sport of show jumping with a Las Vegas-type show. “It really was a very simple thing to do,” John told me, “but it didn’t happen overnight, it took planning and planning takes time especially when you have to explain a dream to someone else and find the money." “Las Vegas Events bit the bullet and decided they
would sponsor it. In return though, they wanted the rights to produce it in 2003 and
2005.That was also the point that I figured I had nothing to lose so I phoned Elizabeth (Busch Burke) and asked her if Budweiser would sponsor the Finals. She said she loved the idea and would do it, we had a sponsor after all.” Sadly, the triumph of all the accomplishments and
success might be the very thing that kicked the United States in the butt. “Each time we held the World Cup Finals,” John said, “which was every other year, it was successful and grew. The crowds were huge and other locations then wanted to come in and host it. Now it is taken all the way up until 2015 before we might see it again." While sad to see the possibility of the next World
Cup Finals here at home so far in the future, Quirk is pleased with what he has accomplished. And he says that after all of the careers he has had in his lifetime that this is surely not the most prestigious one, but the
This Page, Top to Bottom: John judging with Artie Hawkins, 1980; Tish and John Quirk. 60
one he was passionate about! He is the first to admit his passion for show jumping is palpable. All of us who had the opportunity to attend any of
the five World Cup Finals that have been held in Las Ve- gas can thank John Quirk. If not for he and his visions we would not have had the chance to watch a Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum, Albert Zoer, Beat Mandli, Marcus Ehning, or Rodrigo Pessoa work their magic in person out here in the west. With a lucky roll of the Las Vegas dice, we will be able
to see it again, because John is right – there is nothing like it.
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